sauces, James peterson

James Peterson is a former dean at Peter Kump's (where I went to culinary school). His book Sauces is really an in-depth lesson into sauce making and not just a one dimensional list of recipes.

While I enjoyed his detailed excursion into Sauces, his book, Soups didn't ring any bells for me. Soup is primarily supposed to be simple and comforting. If one were to put the amount of work into soup as he does, you would expect more in the end than a bowl of liquid. No doubt the recipes taste fantastic, but you have to decide whether you want to perform that many steps to arrive at soup.

Peterson

I've got 3 of his books: the aforementioned Sauces, and also Vegetables and Fish and Shellfish. Given their size and his reputation, I expected them to be really, I mean REALLY comprehensive. But more than half the time I've looked something up, it wasn't there (or at least I couldn't find it in the index). For example, when I was researching the question somebody here had about Thomas Keller's resting sauce (Beurre manie? Beurre monte? Beurre fondu? Beurre blanc?), there was no mention of beurre monte. A minor disappointment, but still...

As for Vegetables, it's okay, but to me the absolute best is Elizabeth Schneider's newest: VEGETABLES from Aramanth to Zucchini. Her books are the best I've found for current reference on ingredients and uses. As soon as I've looked at it more, I'll put up a thread.